Nacchio: ‘It’s Life on Mars’

Joseph Nacchio, the onetime high-flying telecom chief executive convicted of insider trading is out of prison. He’s shed some pounds and some hair; his post-incarceration look includes a shaved head and goatee. Our exclusive story is here.

But he’s come out swinging, insistent that he’s innocent of the charges that sent him to minimum-security camp and that he did the right thing when he says he stood up to the National Security Agency, which wanted to access the phone records of his customers at Qwest Communications International Inc.

Mr. Nacchio invited the WSJ to his work release program at the firm of his longtime friend, called the Robert D. Borteck, P.C. law firm in New Jersey, a few days before his release was final on Sept. 20. He was literally unrecognizable and happened to be in a great mood considering he’s just spent the past 54 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.

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